'He anchored them to a win' - Former RCB pacer recalls Cheteshwar Pujara's match-winning IPL knock

Australian pacer Kane Richardson jogged back his memory to IPL 2014 when he was representing Rajasthan Royals. He turned up against Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings) in Sharjah where he bowled to the recently-retired Cheteshwar Pujara. 

Richardson recalled how Pujara anchored KXIP to a win with his unbeaten 40 off 38 in a 192-run chase. The right-armer also reminisced how Glenn Maxwell's 89 (45) helped KXIP across the line. He admitted that he could not beat Pujara's solid defence that day despite returning with decent figures of 1/25 in three overs.   

"I actually remember playing him in the IPL. He had a really small IPL career, but he opened the batting one year for Punjab [Kings] at Sharjah, and he anchored them to a win. He made 40 off like 45 [38], and it took a Maxwell masterclass to get them over the line, but he tried to play short-form cricket. But I think his strength was just what he was in the Test format. So, that’s as close as what I got to bowling to Pujara, and I got a good taste of it that day. I couldn’t get through him," shared Richardson while speaking to cricket.com.au.

Richardson felt that Pujara's classical style has its own place in the game. Richardson noted that Pujara played a crucial role for his team as he frustrated the opposition with his old-school style.

And whilst it may not be the best for the people in the stands and broadcasters, I think there’s definitely a role for it. Like Test cricket, it’s not gotten any shorter; it's still five days. So, like we said, if there’s a role to play for someone like that, they make everyone around them better. Opposition hates playing against them, like hats off! So yeah, great career [for] Pujara. Enjoy, well-earned feet up!,” he added.

Richardson, who has played 61 white-ball matches for Australia so far, lauded Pujara for complementing the "giants around him". He also acknowledged that Pujara was always a difficult adversary to face for the Aussies in Tests.

"He’s almost the perfect foil to so many of those giants around him in that batting order. Yeah, amazing career and like you said, he was the thorn in Australia’s side for so long. And same for the Aussies bowling team would be like, ‘Thank God, he’s not playing anymore.’ Like I can’t imagine, day one you lose the toss and you’re bowling on a flatty [flat track] and Pujara walks out on a hot day. That’s as hard as it would get. Yeah, amazing player,” he concluded.

Although Pujara could never make it big in the shortest format, he was a force to reckon with in Tests. Pujara ended with 103 Tests for India, registering 7195 runs at an impressive average of 43.60.